A site dedicated to educating, experimenting, exploring, and of course eating all types of cheese.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Day 679 : Happy Hanukkah!

Over the next few weeks, I plan to look at different food traditions surrounding the holidays -- spanning the globe and across religions. So tonight is the first night of the festival of lights, an eight day Jewish holiday celebrating the rededication of the Holy or Second Temple in Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt in the 2nd century BCE. In 2011, a Menorah is lit nightly for the eight nights of the holiday, families exchange gifts and come together over each nightly meal and people are meant to feast on fried foods symbolizing the oil utilized to keep the temple alight for those eight days. Apart from your traditional latkes and doughnuts, this is also a time to eat cheese! Why do I say that? Cheese is considered to be a commemoration of Judith and women in general who have greatly impacted the events of Hanukkah. Did you know that back in olden times, people did not eat potato pancakes, they ate cheese pancakes?

So tonight if you plan to eat plain straight forward latkes simply crafted with potatoes why not top them with Salvatore Brooklyn's to die for ricotta cheese? This luscious milky uncutuous young creamster will take your potato pancakes to a whole new level of yumminess. Wanna go one step further? Well then I think mixing in some chives and sea salt and black pepper to your ricotta would make it even better!

But perhaps you wanted to add some cheese into your latkes not just on top? I recommend utilizing a nice Alpine style nutty cheese because it will enhance the flavor profile of the potatoes and meld all of the flavors together excellently. I'd choose Uplands Cheese Pleasant Ridge Reserve hailing from Wisconsin crafted in the Beaufort style this firm aged cheese is great on its own or shredded and melted into your latkes. Nutty, butterscotchy, caramelly, and rustic with a nice buttery roundness and a tinge of grassy barnyardy-ness, this is the perfect addition to your latke to take it to the next level.

SO WHAT IS FROMAGICAL?

Well, that is a good question!

Fromagical is meant to show you that cheese can be utterly magical! It is to be a mix of cheese consulting -- do you need to plan a cheese platter for your next cocktail party? Are you scared of going up to the cheese counter? Do you need help navigating what's what? Did you want someone to come into your home and give you an informative but totally fun lecture on cheese and different types?? Need ideas for recipes with a particular cheese? Want to know what sort of cheese to buy your boss? Your parents? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? Or wanting to know what sort of drink pairs perfectly with that cheese you bought at the Greenmarket?

You've come to the right place!

I am here to help -- your very own personalized cheese consultant.

About Me

By day, I run an art gallery and am very passionate about bringing fine art to people who appreciate it and who wake up in the morning to a smile on their face when they look at the new painting on their wall. In my free time, apart from marathon training, I spend as much of it as possible, eating, learning and experimenting with cheese, cooking, wine and spirits tasting, and well anything involved with food and wine.